Oil Embargo

LONDON - The U.S. government seriously contemplated using military force to seize oil fields in the Middle East during the Arab oil embargo of 30 years ago, according to a declassified British government document made public yesterday. The top-secret document reveals that the U.S. government, under President Richard M. Nixon, was prepared to act more aggressively than previously thought if tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors continued to escalate after the October 1973 Middle East war or if the oil embargo did not abate.

Oil prices, which a year ago were as low as $50, hit $100 a barrel for the first time the other day. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and others have warned that high oil prices could seriously damage the U.S. economy. After all, oil price spikes have preceded most U.S. recessions since the 1970s. That includes the price spikes after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 1980 outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Is an oil-induced recession on the way? Probably not. For starters, the 1970s oil price shocks were triggered by severe supply disruptions generated by "geopolitical events" - wars, embargoes, revolutions.

WASHINGTON -- More than a month after the hanging of Nigerian human rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Clinton administration is considering how best to strengthen its campaign to isolate Nigeria's military dictatorship in protest against the execution.The United States has withdrawn its ambassador, suspended Nigeria's application for financial credits, tightened the granting of visas to Nigerians with ties to the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha, and refused to sell it weapons.But so far the administration has shied away from using what is potentially the most effective weapon, an embargo on Nigerian oil, which generates 95 percent of the government's foreign income.

Gerald Ford was in the White House only 895 days. Even so, many of the economic problems of the 1970s came to a head on his watch. "He had the misfortune of inheriting a truly horrendous situation, as inflation burst through and the Federal Reserve began tightening interest rates," said Chicago economist Robert Dederick. From the perspective of 2006, the economic lesson of the Ford administration is rather clear: Once inflation spirals out of hand, getting it back under control can be extremely difficult.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration, lashing out at an old U.S. adversary in the face of new alarm about terrorism, vowed yesterday to pursue additional global punishment against Libya, including an oil embargo.Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher, in blasts at other Mideast opponents, also labeled Iran an international outlaw and said that the behavior of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is getting worse.United Nations sanctions imposed against Libya a year ago have failed to force the regime of Col. Muammar el Kadafi to surrender two men indicted in the United States, Britain and France in connection with the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 in late 1988 and an aircraft over Niger in 1989.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Despite a threatened European trade embargo, Yugoslavia's warfare intensified yesterday after Croatia ordered full mobilization against the advancing federal army and a top Serbian general accused the republic of "asking for total war."Serbian guerrillas backed by federal army troops, tanks and aircraft fired shells within 10 miles of Zagreb as they closed in on the Croatian capital.The Serbian forces also pressed their attack on the strategic city of Karlovac and reached the center of Vukovar, in eastern Croatia, one of the last Croatian strongholds in a region that has been pounded by artillery for weeks.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration is considering a plan to seize some of Libya's oil revenue as a way of pressuring Col. Muammar el Kadafi to hand over two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing for trial, officials said yesterday.But with the United Nations weary of sanctions and even close ally Britain standing aloof, officials aren't optimistic that even this modest step will be approved by the U.N. Security Council.Meeting in December with families who lost loved ones in the downing of Pan Am Flight 103, President Clinton promised to "seek yet stronger measures against Libya" if the suspects were not surrendered.

Oil prices, which a year ago were as low as $50, hit $100 a barrel for the first time the other day. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and others have warned that high oil prices could seriously damage the U.S. economy. After all, oil price spikes have preceded most U.S. recessions since the 1970s. That includes the price spikes after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the 1980 outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Is an oil-induced recession on the way? Probably not. For starters, the 1970s oil price shocks were triggered by severe supply disruptions generated by "geopolitical events" - wars, embargoes, revolutions.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The United States, in an effort to stem the fighting in Yugoslavia, has joined the European economic sanctions against Belgrade and will co-sponsor a U.N. resolution that could lead to an oil embargo, President Bush announced yesterday.The step was the strongest yet by the United States to bring pressure on the warring Serbs and Croats, whose battles have taken thousands of lives.Mr. Bush warned that such violent nationalism could produce the kind of political instability that plunged Europe into two world wars this century.

As Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk, the odd couple of historic destiny, received their well-deserved Nobel Peace Prizes Oslo yesterday, South Africa was not the country it had long been. During the week, it changed utterly.On Tuesday in Cape Town, exclusively white minority rule ended. Mr. de Klerk promulgated the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) -- 32 members (only seven of them white) from 16 parties -- to oversee his government. Unfortunately, groups of black and white conservatives under the rubric of the Freedom Alliance stayed out after negotiations to include them had failed.

LONDON - The U.S. government seriously contemplated using military force to seize oil fields in the Middle East during the Arab oil embargo of 30 years ago, according to a declassified British government document made public yesterday. The top-secret document reveals that the U.S. government, under President Richard M. Nixon, was prepared to act more aggressively than previously thought if tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors continued to escalate after the October 1973 Middle East war or if the oil embargo did not abate.

WASHINGTON -- An absent Russia became a key player at the Washington NATO summit yesterday, posing a potential threat to an oil embargo against Yugoslavia while holding center stage in efforts to keep the month-old war over Kosovo from getting bloodier.President Clinton challenged Moscow yesterday not to interfere with NATO ships that may be deployed to block oil deliveries to Yugoslavia. While promising that the alliance won't do anything likely to provoke violence, "we have to be firm about it," Clinton told reporters.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration is considering a plan to seize some of Libya's oil revenue as a way of pressuring Col. Muammar el Kadafi to hand over two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing for trial, officials said yesterday.But with the United Nations weary of sanctions and even close ally Britain standing aloof, officials aren't optimistic that even this modest step will be approved by the U.N. Security Council.Meeting in December with families who lost loved ones in the downing of Pan Am Flight 103, President Clinton promised to "seek yet stronger measures against Libya" if the suspects were not surrendered.

Growing up in Nigeria surrounded by oil wells, Owens Wiwa barely knew a fresh-water stream that wasn't covered by a film of petroleum. He remembers rain blackened by soot, farms ruined by spillage and oilfield fires so loud that they drove away wildlife.When he became a physician, Wiwa treated respiratory and skin diseases that he now links to pollution. His indigenous Ogoni people got little or no benefit from their underground wealth, not even electricity or piped water, he says.Now, from a North Baltimore studio apartment containing little more than a desk, a disheveled bed and a bookcase, Wiwa, 40, is trying to shake up Africa's most populous nation, campaigning for a boycott against the oil giant Shell and for an end to Nigeria's military dictatorship.

Lest any of you forgets that today is the 55th anniversary of the Japanese attack on American naval forces at Pearl Harbor, I feel compelled to remind you.It was indeed Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese -- led by Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto -- bombed Pearl Harbor in what has been described as a sneak attack. If you're Japanese, the attack on Pearl Harbor is the brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed pre-emptive strike to save Asia from white domination.That goes to show you how history can be rewritten from almost any point of view.

WASHINGTON -- More than a month after the hanging of Nigerian human rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Clinton administration is considering how best to strengthen its campaign to isolate Nigeria's military dictatorship in protest against the execution.The United States has withdrawn its ambassador, suspended Nigeria's application for financial credits, tightened the granting of visas to Nigerians with ties to the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha, and refused to sell it weapons.But so far the administration has shied away from using what is potentially the most effective weapon, an embargo on Nigerian oil, which generates 95 percent of the government's foreign income.

THERE IS a better way to deal with the recurring crises brought on by our obsessive devotion to cars. It is not as daring as sending 150,000 troops and 700 aircraft to the Persian Gulf, true, but it is a little more dramatic than just putting more air in our tires.Those are the two most noticeable administration responses to the current showdown so far -- one ordered by Mr. Bush, the other recommended by his energy secretary. In Congress, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., and sensible colleagues are pushing an old idea that is cheaper than foreign intervention and more effective than war or over-inflated radials.

Gerald Ford was in the White House only 895 days. Even so, many of the economic problems of the 1970s came to a head on his watch. "He had the misfortune of inheriting a truly horrendous situation, as inflation burst through and the Federal Reserve began tightening interest rates," said Chicago economist Robert Dederick. From the perspective of 2006, the economic lesson of the Ford administration is rather clear: Once inflation spirals out of hand, getting it back under control can be extremely difficult.

As Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk, the odd couple of historic destiny, received their well-deserved Nobel Peace Prizes Oslo yesterday, South Africa was not the country it had long been. During the week, it changed utterly.On Tuesday in Cape Town, exclusively white minority rule ended. Mr. de Klerk promulgated the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) -- 32 members (only seven of them white) from 16 parties -- to oversee his government. Unfortunately, groups of black and white conservatives under the rubric of the Freedom Alliance stayed out after negotiations to include them had failed.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration, lashing out at an old U.S. adversary in the face of new alarm about terrorism, vowed yesterday to pursue additional global punishment against Libya, including an oil embargo.Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher, in blasts at other Mideast opponents, also labeled Iran an international outlaw and said that the behavior of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is getting worse.United Nations sanctions imposed against Libya a year ago have failed to force the regime of Col. Muammar el Kadafi to surrender two men indicted in the United States, Britain and France in connection with the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 in late 1988 and an aircraft over Niger in 1989.